Product News & Reviews

I would think with everything we saw up to this point, I covered most if not every angle of the SST-TJ08-E. That being said, I still feel like I haven't said enough about this chassis to really express what a great deal this little chassis is. I know we have seen a lot of this before. Inverted motherboards, removable hard drive assemblies, native USB 3.0, it's all been done before, I can't deny that. My stance is more the fact of how they all come together and as long as you follow my advice to plan well ahead when looking into this chassis, you can have some serious horsepower packed into a sleek looking, unassuming black chassis. The only thing I can say this chassis is missing to help cover a whole other segment of users, is an optional handle. This would make a slick little sleeper of a LAN system.

I realize that with the lowered price point in cases, a lot of manufacturers lack in more areas than they win me over for options of how things work inside a chassis as I build them and use them. While the packaging was a bit boring, it allowed for money to be reassigned if you will. To think you can get this in full aluminum at this price is crazy, but I can appreciate the all black aluminum front panel, even if it is plastic backed. The steel construction is good, except for the missing rivet in mine, but this isn't something that should happen all the time; it was a simple oversight, nothing more. I appreciated the removable hard drive assembly and removable floppy drive tray. Even if it left the 2.5" drive mounting holes exposed I like to give the case as much of a chance at cooling the interior as possible.

Speaking of the cooling, that is one place where SilverStone saved a bit of the money. In their defense, the fan they did supply is a good one. The AP181, or 180mm Air Penetrator is no slouch for delivering air flow. In my personal experience, even with a bit of extra noise with the fan on Hi, the directed airflow provided at 1200 RPM is sufficient to cool just about anything. My tower cooler fan and the air pressure from the AP181 were all that were pushing out the back of the case, but even so, there was a fair bit of flow felt at the back of the chassis. The icing on the cake for me with the cooling, was that neither the front nor the PSU intake were forgotten when it came to filtration! I almost forgot about the coolest toy in the box, the CPU cooler support. While I really doubt that the cooler is going to break the motherboard hanging upside down, I do like that it has that added support. so if I lose it setting it on a table, it has a little bit of added help. Either way about it, I like the way they are thinking over at SilverStone and hope they keep these innovations coming.

I've said this a few times already, but it needs to be said here one more time. This is a sub-$100 entry in the SST-TJ08-E from SilverStone. If you shop carefully, you can get this chassis to your door for as little as $94, and for those who just buy it where they see it first, be prepared to pay up to $120 depending on your choice of e-tailer or big box store. It's a shame that the points have to reflect a limited availability, because this case wins in all the other categories so much. I feel bad even giving the hit to the score, but fair is fair. Even coming from a build as immense as the Temjin TJ11 I just recently looked at, this smaller sibling to the series has come on strong and finished out with a build that may have been a bit frustrating, but was very satisfying to get it done and running. SilverStone sold me on the innovativeness, sleek and simple aesthetics and simple and effective solutions to storage, cooling support and internal layout!

The Silverstone SUGO SG09 goes for around 100 euros including taxes on various price-comparison sites. US Readers will need to shell out 100 USD excluding taxes.

Extremely compact in volume for a potent mATX chassis

Can easily fit massive CPU coolers

Plenty of space for long dual-graphic card setups

Full size ATX PSU easily fits

4x 2.5 inch and 2x 3.5 inch bays

Slimline ODD bay

180 mm FDB Air Penetrator fan on the top

2x USB 3.0

USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter included

Dust filter on all intake fans

mATX compatibility

Positive air pressure system helps keep dust out of the system

Well thought out interior. Nearly its entire volume is utilized to the maximum.

Glue-on feet

No eject button for ODD

Air penetrator fan is audible at full speed

Hard drive bays hard on the limit of what is possible with cables in the space given

Design deviates from that of previous Sugo series cases

Basic I/O

9.5 Silverstone has taken the SG09 a step into a different direction from the rest of the Sugo series. All recent cases in that range are mini-ITX cases, but the SG09 can hold an mATX board. Don't let the naming fool you though. This is an impressively roomy chassis for its size. Silverstone has done everything they could to squeeze as much hardware into the case; they even went as far as they could with SG09's hard drive bays, which may have been too far for the taste of some. You will need proper cables to really make use of all six drive bays behind the motherboard tray. The other drawback is the lack of an eject button for the slimline optical drive and the case's glue-on feet, but neither is a real deal-breaker. The Sugo SG09 does manage to deliver on everything it advertised while pushing the envelope on efficiently used space; that is, if you come prepared to spend some time on the assembly process by stuffing as much as you can into the chassis. Pretty cool, even if the case is not the most beautiful one.

While the Precision PS08 has a few drawbacks compared to other microATX cases, you have to keep in mind that it costs only USD 40, which is at least half the price of other good microATX cases, such as the Precision PS07 and the Temjin TJ08-E . And we were surprised to see some features not usually found on cases at this price range, such as the metallic thumbscrews to open the case, the air filter for the front panel, and the painted rear panel and interior. If you are looking for a small and inexpensive case, the PS08 is an excellent choice.

Strong Points

Outstanding price

Vented slot covers

Air filter for the front fan

A huge hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler

Support for four 3.5? and one 2.5? internal devices

Support for long video cards up to 14.1? (358 mm)

Support for anti-theft devices from Kensington

Rear panel and interior are painted

Weak Points

Doesn't come with the rear fan

Plastic used on the front panel has lower quality compared to more expensive cases

Not enough space behind the motherboard tray to route thick cables from the power supply

The SilverStone NT06 Pro costs £45 in the UK. At that price it would be batting above the average if it was a tower heatsink. Yet this excellent level of performance has been crammed into a product measuring in at just 82mm in height. So we’ve got the excellence of a high performance tower heatsink and the innovation of an incredibly small form factor cooler, all rolled into one awesome product.

The NT06 Pr0 is priced very competitively for what you are getting. The performance as we have seen is excellent and you’ll certainly be able to have a serious overclock in a HTPC or Small Form Factor system if that is your kind of thing. The mounting kit is excellent, it stays well within all socket specifications and will mount any modern socket, but no doubt the favourite sockets for most people will be either FM1/FM2 or LGA 1155 as most HTPC systems run these sockets.

Aesthetically the SilverStone NT06 is a good looking product, being entirely nickel plated or aluminium it has a quality feel and finish to it. The provided fan is also well produced as it comes with a black braided cable, PWM support and a slightly thinner-than-standard design which helps keep the form factor of the product so small. Another thing that I really liked, which many may see as a minor thing, is that SilverStone provided extra fan clips if you want to buy another fan for push-pull. This would be useful if you have enough room and want extra cooling performance or two low RPM fans instead of one high RPM fan. It is little touches like this that set companies apart and SilverStone have ticked all the right boxes with this product.

Finding negatives is tough with this product. If I were to be really pedantic I would say the fan is on the noisy side when you put the system under overclocked-stress. This 100% Prime 95 stress situation is unlikely to ever occur within a HTPC, but if you consider HTPC cases tend to be enclosed and starved of airflow then it is possible that this noise could be reproduced so including a fan speed reducer cable is something SilverStone could have included to be really generous to the consumer – especially considering HTPC systems need to be silent at all times.

As a HTPC cooler the SilverStone NT06 Pr0 is verging on being perfect. It has excellent looks, top notch build quality, tower heatsink-equivalent performance, an innovative form factor, a flexible and simple mounting system and a competitive price. Consequently, the SilverStone NT06 joins the ranks of some of the most highly regarded products here at eTeknix as we award it the Editor’s Choice award.

mATX Chassis Final Thoughts

First off, this isn't a case with which you'd want to constantly swap
components. This is more of a "build it then leave it" style of case
because you'll need to take the case completely a part screw by screw
and install your components screw by screw, and this goes for the hard
drives and optical drives too, as there are no tool-less mounts here.
The front fans are fairly easy to remove though. Simply remove the drive
cage and pull the fans out of the back (screws are in front for easy
access).

For such a small internal area, SilverStone engineers obviously thought
much about the PS07's design, and also about OCing in it. With nearly a
inch of space for cable routing, and the ability to mount 180mm PSUs and
13.9" video cards along with a full tower cooler, they really did their
job. The easy to clean front and power supply filters are also well
designed, and even elegant.

Other than having a lot of screws, comparatively speaking, the PS07
takes into account almost every single detail which you might come up
against. One problem is that if you use the top drive cage with drives
in it, you'll need to mount the cooling tower fan on the back near the
exhaust port (if you have a fairly fat tower). That's probably not a
problem since you'll be sucking air through the tower and blowing it out
of the back exhaust port. The manual says that SilverStone tested a
nonOC'ed Core i7 with the PS07 using a tower cooler--without the
fan--and it didn't overheat (PS07 manual 47). So, you have that option
too.

If you aren't going to OC, and you're not planning on swapping
components much, then the PS07 is unquestionably a very nice choice with
everything you'll need plus the advantage of a small footprint. It's a
solid and well thought out case. Of course you only get two 5.25" drive
bays, but for most people, that's enough. (I could even do with that
since I rarely use my internal card reader. Having only two bays would
leave me with one optical drive instead of two, which I don't need, and
my hot swap 3.5" bay, which I do need.)

The question whether or not we can seriously consider the PS07 while
OCing, however, remains. The PS07 is touted as having excellent positive
airflow and supports large tower coolers, with an option to water cool,
and an option to run your PSU downward to help suck air out of the
case, and so I'd say yes, we can OC in this box. I'm quite sure my air
cooled i7 920 at 3.8Ghz would run just fine in this case. Of course,
cooling performance varies depending on variables, so take that into
consideration.

SilverStone PS07 Conclusion

With a small footprint and lots of internal space, there isn't much
wrong with the SilverStone PS07. It's a well thought out case, with the
arguable exception of so many screws needed for assembly.

Appearance is always subjective, but this case is marketed squarely for
more mature tastes, with no fancy LEDs or other outside flair, while
retaining a sleek and solid look. For that reason, the PS07 retains an
all business appearance without being overly boring.

Construction of the PS07 is above average with the only aspect a little
thin being the top PSU mount, which becomes substantially sturdy after
the removable top is screwed down. There were somewhat sharp edges on
the top outside edge of the frame, where the side panels mount on both
sides, but they are outside of the working area. Aside from that,
everything is smooth with attention to quality. The paint is very thick
and the plastic has a matte-like aluminum finish to it.

Functionally speaking, the PS07 is a design with obviously much
attention to detail. The manual is full of measurements in every aspect,
such as cooling tower height, PSU and optical drive limitations (which
are almost limitless), ram height to hard drive specs, and cable length
recommendations. Along with that, the manual includes alternatives for
placement of hardware. It's one of the best manuals I've seen.

It's hard to believe but you get 13.9" of video card space, 180mm of PSU
space, 6.5" of tower height space, and nearly an inch (15/16th") of
cable space, plus enough internal bays for five 3.5" drives and one 2.5"
drive (or mix and match). On top of that, you get excellent and easy to
remove front and top filters. This is excellent functionality. The only
downside is that the PS07 is not a tool-less design, and incorporates
many screws.

Value is good for a case with this much attention to detail. Costing less than $79 at NewEgg,
price may be a little high for a micro case, but with all of the
functionality, I can't really hit it either. Incredible functionality in
such a small package is the main reason the SilverStone PS07 mini-tower
computer case receives the prestigious Benchmark Reviews Silver
Tachometer Award.

Prior
to this review, I had never heard of Larkooler. However, having now
used and reviewed one of their watercooling systems, I can see that they
should probably become popular soon enough. Overall, Larkooler still
have a few steps to go before they can take over the market, but they
are definitely heading in the right direction.

The
watercooling kit I reviewed today (KU3-241) can be bought for less than
£200 if you shop around online, and at this price, it is quite an
attractive entry into the watercooling world. It performs well at this
price, given that it is a “DIY” kit, and comes complete with everything
you need, and despite it only beating the Noctua under load by a few
degrees it is certainly a good entry into the market and if this kit is
anything to go by, we will be seeing a lot more of Larkooler in the
future!

Pros

Affordable entry into the water-cooled world

High build quality

Easy to follow instructions

Good performance

Reasonably quiet

Cons

Pump could be more powerful

Waterblock does not (at time of reviewing) support newer 1155 chipset

Reality Check:
Whilst this kits performance won’t blow you away, it is definitely a
great and affordable way to get into the world of watercooling.

The
SilverStone Grandia GD06 can be a good option if you are looking for an
HTPC case with a high number of disk drive bays and positive air
pressure configuration. The price is fair for a case with the features
the GD06 has, but if you don’t care about the hot-swap bays but still
want a good HTPC case at a lower price point, consider the GD04 from the same manufacturer. (The GD04 doesn’t have USB 3.0 ports, though.)

Strong Points

Air filters on all fans

Air filter for the power supply fan

Positive air pressure configuration

Excellent number of disk drive bays (one 5.25,” four 3.5,” and two 2.5”)

Two external 3.5” bays for hard drives with hot-swap connectors

On/off switch is not covered by the front door, so you won’t need to open the door every time you want to turn on your computer

Lock on the front door

Anti-theft mechanism securing the top panel and the whole computer

Good construction quality

Weak Points

Doesn’t use thumbscrews

Anti-vibration mechanisms are available at only one of the four 3.5” bays

The
SilverStone Precision PS06 is a good option if you are looking for a
mid-tower case with eight expansion slots and would like to try a case
with positive air pressure for a change (more specifically, with a top
fan blowing air inside the case).

Strong Points

Eight expansion slots

Air filter for the front fan

Air filter for the power supply fan and bottom fan

Air filter for the top fan

Support for five hard drives or SSD units

External 3.5”/2.5” bay with hot swap connectors

Anti-vibration mechanisms for 3.5” hard drives

Tool-less installation system for 5.25” and 3.5” devices

A huge hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler